The
design and engineering of plasmonic metal nanocomposite photocatalysts
offer an operative approach for highly efficient CO2 photoreduction.
Herein, the authors report a plasmonic 3D flower-like (3DF) Ag–CeO2–ZnO nanocomposite catalyst with effective charge carrier
separation/transfer and CO2 adsorption capacity exhibiting
a considerable enhanced performance compared to pure ZnO and CeO2 for photocatalytic CO2 reduction to CO and CH4 under UV–vis light. The apparent quantum efficiency
of the optimized sample is 4.47% at 420 nm, and the CO2 to CO selectivity reaches up to ∼95%. The enhanced photocatalytic
performance of 3DF Ag–CeO2–ZnO can be assigned
to the prolonged absorption in the visible light region induced by
the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect, the efficient separation
of photogenerated charges, and the Z-scheme configuration. Furthermore,
the photocatalyst displays excellent stability and reusability. The
mechanism of the plasmon-mediated Z-scheme structure has been suggested
in which Ag NPs act as both visible light absorber and electron mediator.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.